Cables highlight concern for Spain

Posted: Sunday, December 12, 2010

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MADRID - The U.S. grew so concerned about the possibility of an Islamist terrorist attack in Spain in 2007 that it proposed setting up a counterterrorism center in the country's second-largest city, according to confidential cables.

The three U.S. cables, released by WikiLeaks on Saturday, say the U.S. planned the "counterterrorism, anti-crime and intelligence center" at its consulate in Barcelona.

The goal was "combating the target-rich environment of terrorist and criminal activities centered in the region," which has a "presence of over 1 million Muslims," a 2007 cable says.

In March 2004, a total of 191 people were killed and more than 1,800 wounded in bombing attacks on Madrid commuter trains. Islamic militants claimed responsibility.

One U.S. cable, dated 2005, sets the scene, saying that "Spain is both a significant target of Islamic terrorist groups and a major logistical hub for Islamic extremist groups operating across the globe."

The 2007 cable says Spain "is a past and current al-Qaida target" and a critical player in U.S.-EU counterterrorism efforts.

It says Barcelona has a large Muslim population "susceptible to jihadist recruitment" and adds that "Spanish and U.S. authorities have identified Catalonia as a major Mediterranean center of radical Islamist activity."

In other Wikileaks cable releases:

► The Vatican felt "offended" that Ireland failed to respect Holy See "sovereignty" by asking high-ranking churchmen to answer questions from an Irish commission probing decades of sex abuse of minors by clergy.

One document, authored in February 2010, said Ireland wanted to be seen as fully supportive of the independent probe into child-abuse cover-ups in the Dublin Archdiocese, but its Rome officials also didn't want to intervene in the probe's efforts to get information from the Vatican.

► The captain and crew of an American Airlines flight were briefly detained in 2008 after a crew member advised passengers to set their watches to "local Chavez time" upon arrival in Caracas.

President Hugo Chavez in 2007 created a new time zone for Venezuela, moving the clock back a half hour on a permanent basis. But there appeared to be a misunderstanding over one crucial word in the crew member's announcement. One passenger, a friend of a pro-Chavez lawmaker, thought the crew member said "loco Chavez time."

"Loco" means crazy in Spanish.

► A year before the coup that ousted Manuel Zelaya, an outgoing U.S. ambassador called the Honduran president a "rebellious teenager" who secretly wanted to leave office a martyr.

Ambassador Charles A. Ford sent the unflattering portrait of Zelaya - classified as "secret" - on May 15, 2008, to incoming Ambassador Hugo Llorens. More than a year later, on June 28, 2009, soldiers forced Zelaya into exile in a dispute over changing the Honduran Constitution.

The coup provoked worldwide condemnation, but months of sanctions and U.S.-led negotiations ultimately failed to restore Zelaya to power.